Over the years, the structural characteristics of in-store and streetside product displays have remained essentially unchanged. Generally, store window displays comprise an arrangement of the products being offered, together with sometimes whimsical decorations or other supplemental display materials. Such store window presentations are often put together by professional artists that specialize in such work, and, once decorated, a store window is likely to remain unchanged for an entire selling season, or longer. This is on account of the high cost of hiring such a store window decoration specialist.
Accordingly, a store window does not change in response to the different things which may be experienced during a selling season. Likewise, such store windows cannot change in response to the desires of persons passing by the store. Similarly, the display in a store window cannot change over time as a person is viewing the display. Accordingly, once the display is seen by the person looking in the store window and studied for the period of time which the person wishes to devote to the store display, the person's attention will the terminated and he or she will turn their attention to something else. In accordance with the invention, means are provided for varying the display with time in order to maintain viewer interest in a store display.
In addition, the store window display remains static and unchanged throughout the entire day and night, and regardless of whether the store is open or closed.
The above observations with respect to the inadequacies of store displays in the context of store windows apply equally as well to other commercial displays in stores, such as menus at fast food restaurants, tables with arrangements of goods on them, and the like.
Still another disadvantage of such prior art displays is the fact that the display is limited to the actual size of the goods if one desires to present a three dimensional representation of the particular product available for sale. While, in principle, large statues of products have been used commercially, the high cost of such models or sculpture is prohibitive and the same are, in the commercial retail sales context, extremely unusual.
Nevertheless, the value of such large displays has been known for some time.
For example, a small frozen custard vendor of the 1950's built a very large franchise based upon his stands which sported larger than life roof-borne ornaments consisting of an ice cream cone with a swirling structure simulating frozen custard above it.
In accordance with the invention, the above inadequacies of the prior art are avoided. In particular, the present invention provides means for the display of numerous three dimensional objects and associated background material in a larger than life context. Moreover, the system of the present invention may be employed to selectively present one of a number of objects to a viewer. The displayed object may be varied in order to maintain viewer interest. At the same time that this is achieved, the image of the objects is placed in close proximity to a viewer, allowing minute examination of details even at a distance.
In accordance with the invention, the above is achieved through the use on a store window pane comprising an optical member which blocks all direct transmission of light from an object on display behind the pane, while projecting an image of the object on display at a position in front of the store window. The objects may be portrayed as life size, or larger with appropriate background, lighting and the like, while at the same time, on account of the blocking of the direct light, selective presentation of a number of objects is possible in virtual space either in sequence or beside one another.
In accordance with the present invention, means are provided for projecting the image of a model or an actual object for viewing by an observer. The object to be used is placed on one side of what appears to be an ordinary window. All direct light from the object is blocked by the optical characteristics of the window. Instead, light from the object is collected and focused to form a virtual image in space having a desired magnification and position determined by the optics of the window, as more fully appears in the specification below.
Thus, in accordance with the invention, a perfume bottle may be suspended on one side of a window, while the observer is positioned on the other side of the inventive window. The perfume bottle is caused to appear, in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, as a three dimensional image, in front of the window with a desired degree of magnification. Thus, the image of the perfume bottle appears to be suspended in space in front of the window.
The invention provides a dynamic three dimensional full color image in space of any item or items for advertising with a combined remote background so that proper parallax is obtained between the wanted image and the background thereby enhancing the realism and the three dimensional quality. The same is achieved using sandwiched structures such as that those in my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 3,443,858, 3,940,203, 4,163,542 and 4,708,438.